I knew it was big when almost every article, speaking engagement and a significant percentage of our new business was focused on social media marketing…when everyone and anyone was writing and talking about it…when my hotel room magazine had an article about Twitter…but ice cream!

I am referring to a Breyers ice cream commercial on a cable station. The woman in the commercial after tasting the ice cream, says something like, “I have to tweet about this!”

Now NetPlus has been around since 1996, and I have been digital since 1994 but never, ever have we seen anything like this. But pause….

The adoption of social media into our culture and communications and hence our customer marketing is a significant shift. We must address it but it does not mean that we throw everything else out at it’s expense.

Clearly this is not a passing trend but we must put it into perspective. Socialization is not a new phenonemon, we are inherently social creatures. Technology however has accelerated our social ability. How we apply that to our customer communications, integrate with our marketing programs and advance our overall efforts are some of the right questions to ask.

I think it is fair to say that if you are in marketing and not considering how social media marketing can impact your programs…you are missing a huge piece of the overall marketing strategy and mix. However, it does need to be considered within the larger context of your programs and objectives.

I wonder if that woman ever did tweet about the ice cream? Damn, I must have missed it…..